Joe Baker photo
Kenedy’s Andre Martinez prepares to shoot for the basket during the area championship game against Lasara in Alice Friday night.
Martinez scored 13 points in the game. The Lions lost to Santa Maria in the regional quarterfinals Tuesday.

Kenedy visited Alice to take on the Lasara Lions. The winner would advance to the regional quarterfinals.

The Kenedy Lions came out flying.

“I was worried about the teams nerves. The team came out and played very well,” Coach Jerry Connell said.

Kenedy jumped out to an early 17-5 first quarter lead.

“We shot the ball well, and we were very active on defense.”

Jordan Valdez scored 7 points in the first quarter to lead the charge.

The Kenedy Lions kept up the pressure in the second quarter to take a 30-19 lead into halftime.

As the third quarter started, both teams came out a little sluggish, and missed a lot of open shots.

“The Lasara Lions are a good team, they never gave up. They fought hard until the end.”

Kenedy was able to carry a 39-26 lead into the 4th quarter.

The game was set up for a great ending, but Kenedy never gave up the lead.

With timely shooting and smart ball control, the Kenedy Lions were able to hold on for a 52-39 victory.

The Kenedy Lions were led by Jordan Valdez with 19 points, followed by Andre Martinez with 13 points. Jacob Asebedo had 7 points, Graham Lawrence had 7 points, Dominic Cruz and Seferino Villarreal had 2 points, and Xavier Villarreal and Joe Kiesling had 1 point.

The Area Champion Kenedy Lions travelled to Corpus Christi King High School to take on the Santa Maria Cougars at 7:30 p.m. for the right to go to the Region 4 tournament at New Braunfels Canyon High School Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1. Santa Maria won the regional quarterfinal game, 75-65.